Mwalimu alisema nitamke neno hilo polepole.

I

Breakdown of Mwalimu alisema nitamke neno hilo polepole.

• mwalimu: the teacher
• kusema: to say
• neno: the word

Questions & Answers about Mwalimu alisema nitamke neno hilo polepole.

What is nitamke made of?

It breaks down like this:

• ni- = I
• -tamk- = the verb root from kutamka = to pronounce / to say
• -e = the subjunctive ending

So nitamke means something like that I pronounce or I should pronounce.

Why doesn’t nitamke mean I will pronounce?

Because the ta here is part of the verb root -tamka, not the future marker.

Compare:

• nitamke = I should pronounce / that I pronounce
• nitatamka = I will pronounce

That second form has the real future marker -ta- plus the root -tamka.

Where does the idea of should come from in this sentence?